~ Settled back in Jersey, heart still in Ireland….

Three (or even Two) Out of Four Ain’t Bad

Ok, so I don’t spend all my days, or even nights, on licensed premises. It was a third of a century ago I knocked the first two of these off. But here in Lowestoft, Suffolk I’ve done the third. I’ve had a pint in the most easterly pub in the British Isles. Take a bow the Royal Falcon. Such are the limitations of this town that I turned my nose up as I walked by the first time. Turns out it’s the best of a bad bunch (BIG edit – The Triangle Inn, the Green Jack Brewery’s flagship pub is just down the road and it rocks!), at least those I’ve happened by. At least it’s clean, has bar staff that look interested in serving you, football on the telly and a decent pint of Sharp’s Doom Bar at £2.60pp.

Royal Falcon, Lowestoft

OK shut up, what’s the most southerly? Excluding hotels and restaurants it’s the Le Hocq Inn in beautifulJersey. Never the most enticing of places, these days it’s more of a restaurant than anything else. But fair play, it maintains a large public bar to keep us oiks away from the posh crowd and, what is more, it’s a survivor when so many other out-of-town places have bitten the dust forever.

Le Hocq Inn, Jersey

But (oh no!) what a come down! Upon checking, I see that Gielty’s on Achill Island is actually the most westerly! I have spent half of my life believing it was Kruger’s in Dunquin, Kerry. So in the space of a day I’ve made it three out of four only to immediately have one chalked off 😦 OK, I’ll get there one day. Kruger’s is famous for being the carousing place of (among others) Sarah Miles, Robert Mitchum, John Mills, Leo McKern and Trevor Howard when they shot the epic Ryan’s Daughter in 1970. To this day you can still find a number of the spots where this film was shot on the breathtaking Dingle Peninsula.

Kruger’s Bar, Dunquin

For the record, the most northerly is the Baltasound Hotel on Unst, reachable only by boat. That might take me a while yet.